And you…?
Most mums agree that mid-year toy sales are a bit like childbirth- possibly unpleasant at the the time, awesome reward at the end, unfortunately but completely necessary. And once you’re there, you start wondering who told you this was a good idea in the first place.
And that’s just the layby line.
In attempt to cut the frustration, Big W have released the first ever online shopping app for an Aussie department store. Shopping via the app on your lounge in your pj’s versus madness at midnight…? Big W sent me a $200 voucher with which to conduct this experiment. And I determine- App and Pj’s win, every time. It’s got the current catalogues, a workable search function, you can layby online and delivery was quick. The only drawbacks are it’s not available on the iPad, and while the Chop’s scooter came wrapped in black plastic, I found myself fighting the Bump for her boxed-up dollhouse, clearly visible when the postie dropped it off.
The things we do for kids. Anyway. To win yourself a $200 Big W voucher to spend in store or online, leave me a comment on this post, telling me what toy you always wanted as a kid but never ever got. (In case you’re wondering, mine was a tacky clear box full of gaudy plastic jewelry. Why? I don’t know. I think just becasue all my friends seemed to have one. Try as I might, Google won’t spit me out a picture. Sorry)
The answer that amuses or confuses me the most wins. My decision is final and no discussion will be entered into.
This one’s open to Australian residents only.
Entries open Monday 9th July and close midnight (AEST) on Monday 15th July.
The winner will be announced via RRSAHM’s FaceBook page and Twitter feed, and probably in the newsletter as well. Winners will be emailed and have 48 hours to respond to that email with their postal address, or the prize will be redrawn.
Comments must have a valid email address to be included in this competition- I cannot stress this point enough, people. The number of times I pick a winner and have no contact address for them… it makes me sad. If you’re on Blogger, make sure you’re logged in then click this link to set your email address to reply-able. Cheers.
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
I always wanted a board game…no particular board game, any one of the hundreds out there would have been fantastic. I had a sister so it's not like I had no one to play board games with either! But for some reason we got through the entire 80's and most of the 90's never having owned a single one.
My best friend had an entire floor to ceiling cupboard crammed FULL of them, I'm afraid to say I would peek into that cupboard with a mix of awe and jealousy any chance I got!
I now have a baby and a toddler who already have about half a dozen waiting in a floor to ceiling cupboard…
cheezelmonster@hotmail.com
Unlike many people it seems, I had a Cabbage Patch Kid and a Pound Puppy.
I realised when I was in my early teens, I never had a teddy bear. My mother had hers from when she was a kid, both my brothers had one, I didn't. I had a ton of other stuffed toys,barbies etc, but that didn't stop me from telling my mother for many years that I was deprived as a child because I never had a single teddy bear.
When I was 19, I went home for my birthday and found a huge teddy bear waiting for me. My mother said something along the lines of "now you can stop complaining". I still have him, and my daughter learned very early on that it is Mummy's bear. She can play with it, but any time she tried to claim it for her own, she got told very firmly it was Mummy's and Mummy wasn't giving it away.
jemjem.nightfall@gmail.com
OH I could be persuaded to buy an iPhone JUST FOR THAT APP. I hate crowds, really really hate them, so shopping at Christmas is a nightmare. I buy almost everything on-line well ahead of time.
You know what I wanted most as a kid? A Barbie.
I know, I know.
I eventually ended up with a Sindy, who was like Barbie's poor English cousin, and I hope I was grateful at the time because she was probably cheaper and my parents went through some rough times.
I've made up for my Barbie-wants by buying about a million Barbies for my daughter. It's not quite the same though.
WOW which toy did I want as a child but never got..there was a few. actually {of course}…I would attempt to set the scene.. but to be honest I'm really not sure if my mother has a really good sense of humour or just plain and simple is wierd. {I think its the latter}. I was a little tomboy when I was a young'n….anyhoo I wanted a Tonka fire engine..you know the big metal ones that you can play in the sandpits with…and my mum bought me a matchbox fire truck and thought that was hilarious. And this one time, at Christmas I asked for a guitar {ok maybe aiming little high at 8} I got a little plastic one that had 2 strings and wait for it..yep she was in fits ..
} Sad footnote: she threw them away when I left home. They were in a box in the attic of things that were in storage 
then when I turned 10 I REALLY wanted a set of red stone skates. See, Xanadu was on at the movies, Cliff Richard was singing wired for sound {and the video clip had girls in roller skates} and.I could actually skate! I used to borrow my friends and skate on her driveway. I begged, pleaded and cajoled my sway into getting these skates. I told mum I didnt want anything else for my birthday..just the Redstones…and guess what I got….a pair of strap on skates. I was completely gutted! {and before you think "its probably all she could afford…I got a pile of toys that I didnt want with it. {Happy ending…I bought myself the redstones for my 13th Birthday
But I did learn…I'll always get a crappy version of what I ask for.
Not that I'm carrying any scars..or anything
Anyhoo – thanks for letting me rant…
and very generous giveaway. thanks for the opportunity to win!
kerryranderson@hotmail.com
A Nintendo 64.
Everyone else in the street had one… it meant we had to go round our friends place and usually sit there for hours watching them play it for the chance of a 10min go.
I'm sure my parents were just scared if they bought one, that we would be home more…. I'm starting to think my kids have too many toys!
I was the kids that had a pony because we lived on a farm. But what I really wanted was a tiny tots Treehouse. Remember the big green plastic tree that popped up and had that cool little house inside? My Favourite bit was the little elevator in the tree trunk. They sell for a mint now, so I still can't have one – wah!
the toy i wanted so badly as a kid and never got?
a Peddle powered car! two friends had them – red and i wanted it. with a drive way with a slight hill….and my ability to bearly stear a bike with out crashing into objects such as trees that NEVER moved…it would have been some pritty painfully good childhood memories.
I always wanted a Doodle Bear! I know now that I am a Mama just why I never got a frickin' Doodle Bear, though.
I actually came across the last Doodle Bear at our local Big W on the day I braved the Toy Sale. I popped it in our trolley and Hubby goes 'who is that for?'
To which I replied 'Miss E' (she's almost two).
He shook his head and said she was too little to have a Doodle Bear, and would draw on the walls, and went to yank it out of the trolley.
I then claimed it was for Master S in a bid to stop him. He's almost four. Surely he won't draw on the walls. Hubby then declared there was no way his son was getting a pink Doodle Bear, and grabbed the Doodle Bear and held it up high so I couldn't stop him.
Almost in tears I declared that I wanted to buy my kids a Doodle Bear because it's the last one and I've always wanted a Doodle Bear.
At that exact moment, some random cow asked if we were getting the Doodle Bear because she desperately wanted one for her kid and I'll be stuffed if my dumbarse Husband didn't give it to her!
The Doodle Bear of my dreams!
It took all my willpower not to ram my trolley into her in the lay by line where she kept gushing about how she found a Doodle Bear!
I may or may not have considered eavesdropping on her giving her details to the lay by staff in a bid to get her mobile phone number to send her haunting text messages…
(oops! forgot my email!)
A pogo stick…..strange, but true!
mjg326362@gmail.com
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wow, the cabbage patch kid marketing team really made an impact didn't they?????
I got a cabbage patch kid – my parents wouldn't buy me one so all my friends who had them and felt sorry for me pitched in an got me a 'premmie' baby (a wee tufy of hair on a bald head – they were cheaper…) called Geraldine Scarlet. She's tucked away somewhere still…
The toy i wanted and never got was trampoline. Oh how i longed to have my very own trampoline to jump up and down on for hours and practice my somersaults and crazy jumping stunts… I fantasized about having one so that i could jump from the roof onto the trampoline into the pool. Reality being that i would have had to share it with my four other siblings and probably would never have got a chance to enjoy it properly because it would always have been 'nearly' someone else's go. sigh.
juliachalmers at hotmail dot com
I always wanted a Puppy Surprise. They were a dog with a velcro pocket in their their tummies with puppies inside. You didn't know how many puppies until you bought it.
Everyone had one but me.
Obviously I still brought it up a fair bit, because at age 23 my now hubby found one on ebay and gave it to me for Christmas!!! I cried!
AND it had 4 puppies. I totally would have been the most popular kid at school for that
kfraser@grapevine.com.au
I don't have anything that I always wanted, not because I have everything (which I don't have everything to be exact) , but because I have cousins who have lots of toys that they share with us, plus we love to play with mud, yes MUD! We love making "mud cake" lol But now, at the age of 31, I would love to have barbies, I never own a barbie before, seeing my daughter playing with her barbie now, makes me want to have my own barbie collection. Especially the one with the bicycle
Lesley
lesleyzoe@hotmail.com
I so wanted a cabbage patch kid. My best friend had twins called maybelle storm and trixie lee or some-such 8 year old dream come true cheesy Americana. I wanted a boy called Korey Jean and a girl called Jessie may. It never happened. Now my daughter would like one and i can not bare to purchase one. Seriously, how can such an ugly thing be so appealing.
I always wanted (and never got) one of those motorised cars- you know, the ones that you charge and can actually sit in and drive? Luxury.
Guess what I bought my son for his first Christmas?
I always wanted Sea Monkeys…you know the ones where you had to fill in the form from a comic book or the like and send it away and wait for the postie? well….I never got sea monkeys. Still think I'd like to have them some day. (belnap@internode.on.net)
Whoops! Forgot …. gill@2mcreative.com.au
Cabbage Patch dolls are a common theme, and yes, it's my answer too!
I grew up in a family of five girls, and my parents always did it tough financially.
When Cabbage Patch dolls were all the rage, my sisters and I wanted one each.
We must have reaaaallly wanted them – although I don't remember asking for one all that much, as one year my Mum actually went out and bought Cabbage Patch doll kits, which were basically just the heads of the dolls – obviously rip-offs – and material to make the bodies.
And so that's what we all got one year for Christmas – home-made Cabbage Patch dolls. We were so proud of them, even though we knew they were fake.
I still get emotional when I think about my Mum doing that for us.
When I was a kid I always wanted a metal detector (not sure if it's really a toy) but when it never showed up at christmas or birthdays I could never understand why. I had plans to find tonnes of money, I thought all my Mum's financial troubles would be over haha.
There are a couple of things that it seemed everyone had that I didn't.
Take a hula hoop for example, although I had one at my grandparents for when I visited.
I also never had a glow worm. I know, unheard of!
But the thing that really had me upset was my lack of a cabbage patch doll. Every one got to have a cabbage patch doll, and this was before they hiked up the price and they were only $30 each. I can tell you it was something I asked for every year well into my teens. Pretty sure I've got some major emotional damage or something over this.
Oh this takes me back to my desperate need (yes, need!) of a Barbie bus. The bus was at the top of the list for a couple of years but Santa never came through *sad face*. What made it even worse was that a couple of my friends got one as obviously they had better Santas. I was devastated! It must have scarred me as for some reason it came up in conversation with my boyfriend in my teens (my now husband) and he desperately searched for one for me for a Christmas gift. God knows what I would've done with it at that stage of my life though, lol. I find myself looking at all the different Barbies mobiles these days and I can't help but think of my love for the Barbie bus and how these new contraptions don't come close.
caryan@tpg.com.au
A ken doll. I don't know why but mum wouldn't buy us one and so my sister and I cut the heads off our extra babies and drew faces on their necks. They were the boys. It is now a tad disturbing….
Email: janeandjosh@gmail.com
Oh I still moan about missing out on a game boy and a baby born. Small things hey?!
The walking dinosaur. I still talk about it to this day. It's a running joke between Dad & I. It was the first Christmas after my mum left & I wanted this walking dinosaur toy so badly. Dad, having his first go at being in charge of Christmas by himself & the breadwinner in a now single income family, decided that it was a lot of money (arounf $45?) and I wouldn't love it as much I said I would. I got the marine biologist Barbie instead.
I liked the Barbie, but for some reason I hung on to the idea that the walking dinosaur would have made my life perfect. I was 11. My parents had just separated. A psychologist could explain it better. Dad & I still joke about it now though.
I wanted a black Rip Curl jumper. One that was at least two sizes too big. I found one and nagged and nagged my mum about it. Two weeks later, she caved in and we went to the store. I was sooooo happy. But it was gone. Sold out. I cried for days.
I know you said toy, but I wanted this jumper more than any toy, CD, video, chocolate bar or holiday put together. I'm almost in tears now just thinking about it.
I always wanted a Barbie – and the Harry Potter series. Both were banned as too satanic/worldly. However, I would have been allowed a Baby Born (which I also wanted), but we didn't 'do' Christmas/birthday gifts (any toys I did have, were gifts from other family members). One of the many 'interesting' features of growing up as a child of fundamentalist christians.
I begged for ballerina clothes, shoes, etc. My mum never wanted to buy them to me as she didn't like ballet dancers body shape (said big legs no boobs), and by any chance wanted me to go to ballet classes.I guess it was another era and country. As a child didn't understood for years what she meant of course and still don't get it at all.
Fiorellanaters@hotmail.com
I always wanted either a donkey or a rabbit. I had it planned out for years, where they would live, what their names would be, what I would feed them. Alas, it was never to be. My Mum was allergic to nearly everything but when a cat appeared at our house one day and I wanted to keep him, I had to let go of my rabbit or donkey dream forever
Hiya Lori! I would always ask for a Purple Hippopotamus whenever questioned about what I'd like for my birthday or Christmas. Yeah, I was a strange kid…needless to say, I never got one!
xx
I always wanted a Pound Puppy. It was the only time I remember crying in the shop when I couldn't get one.
I wanted a goddam pogo stick! It looked like so much fun, but my overly cautious mother was certain I'd break my neck on it so refused to let me have one. Break my neck, on a friggin pogo stick, are you kidding me? I had a greater chance of hurting myself on my bike or trampoline! How high does a pogo stick go, like 3ocm? Sheesh.
Ah, childhood toy deprivation, I knew this feeling well. Oh, I remember being about maybe 8 when these carosel horse toys came out and after seeing my friend Christies awesome set up (she had ALL the carousel horses and the carosel frame and it was just a fucking sparkle nightmare of pink and purple plastic) being particularly covetous of that hot little number. I no doubt would have ruined the whole set up though, it was one of those toys that was made to be displayed, not played with. I have never been good with those ones, even as a grown up. I'm too clumsy and messy.
All I really wanted as a girl was a barbie, any barbie, I didn't care which one I just wanted to be a part of the barbie madness and all its miniature wonderfullness.
I wanted a barbie soo bad I imagined my mum buying me one at the local Fosseys. I thought I saw (maybe imagined) her hide a barbie behind her back on the way to the checkout. But alas the barbie never arrived, and when I asked my mum about this recently she had no idea what I was talking about.
Thank heavens my niece just turned 2 and it won't be long before we hit barbie age and we (I say we loosely) will be getting barbies and a camper van!
tanmunn@hotmail.com
Ooh, I was going to say the Barbie Camper but they I saw Donna J's comment about a Cabbage Patch doll and, man, I reeeaallly longed for one of them.
I have no idea why but I always wanted a Cabbage Patch doll even though I thought they were the ugliest dolls ever made.
Oh and email address is
chris@cjtiling.com.au
Teddy Ruxpin.
Ironically I actually got him for Christmas when I was 4 and on Boxing Day my brother poked Teddy's eye into his head and alas he was broken. My parents told me they'd send him to the teddy bear hospital and he'd be back in a couple of weeks. He never came back.
Only last Christmas I asked my mother whatever happened to Teddy Ruxpin and she finally confessed (after 28 years) that she returned him claiming he was faulty, got a refund and SPENT IT ON HERSELF. Scarred for life lol
So technically he was a Clayton's teddy Ruxpin and even more devastatingly, they are going for a tonne of $$$ if in good condition (my darling hubby tried to get one for me)